Eyelet feeding device



July 28, 1970 A. F. GALLATKN EYELET FEEDING DEVICE Filed Sept; 29. 1)6'7 y-' 1970 A. F. GALLATIN v 3,521,130

EYELET FEEDING DEVICE Filed Sept. 29. 1967 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 l5llmzwlllllmlllqljgll July 28, 1970 F, GALLATlN 3,521,735

EYELET FEEDING DEVICE v Filed Sept. 29. 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 63 W rlflvaaz United States Patent 3,521,735 EYELET FEEDING DEVICE Albert F.Gallatin, Brookline, Mass. (76 Rogers St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138)Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 558,458, June 17, 1966. Thisapplication Sept. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 703,805

Int. Cl. B65g 47/24 US. Cl. 198-33 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adevice for aligning and feeding eyelets or similar fasteners havingheads and stems. A hopper for holding eyelets in bulk has a sloping baseplate with an extending arm. A pair of tracks is mounted under a slot inthe base plate. The tracks are spaced to admit the stems of singleeyelets and have recessed portions to receive the heads. A revolvingagitator sweeps over the slot to carry eyelets into it.

This invention relates in general to devices for separating articles,having stem and head portions, from a loose batch and aligning them inposition to be fed one by one to a station where further operations areto be performed, and pertains more particularly to a device for feedingeyelets to an eyelet setting machine. The present application is acontinuation-in-part of my co-pending application Ser. No. 558,458,filed June 17, 1966, now abandoned.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an eyelet feedingdevice which can be readily adjusted to accommodate eyelets of varioussizes, which will not become jammed if left running when the machine towhich the eyelets are being fed is not in operation, and which need notbe synchronized with the machine using the eyelet. Other objects,advantages, and novel features will be apparent from the followingdescription.

SUMMARY The device consists in general of a hopper having a base platewith an extending arm and a slot, a pair of parallel rails mounted onthe under side of the base plate below the slot and having recessedtrack portions in which the heads of the eyelets are received anddefining a gap of such width as to receive the stem of one eyelet at atime, and a rotary agitator provided with fins which tumble the eyeletsand tend to feed them toward the slot. The rails extend along the underside of the arm, and eyelets which are deposited in properly orientatedpositions slide along the rails to the end of the arm. The rails areadjustable sidewise to vary the gap between them.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings illustrating the invention:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an eyelet feeding device constructedaccording to the invention, with the cover of the hopper shown partlybroken away;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the device;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken in the region ofthe slot; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view taken in the region of theslot.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The working parts of the deviceare mounted on a circular base plate 10, having an extending arm 10m. A

3,521,735 Patented July 28, 1970 C&

tubular wall 11, preferably made of transparent plastic, is secured tothe base plate and forms, with the base plate, a hopper, generallyindicated by the numeral 12, to receive a load of the eyelets, rivets,or similar articles which are to be fed by the device. The hopper has acover 13, preferably also made of transparent plastic, secured to wall11 by clips 14 which snap into a groove 15' in the wall.

An agitator disk 16 is secured to a shaft 17 which passes freely throughthe base plate 11 and is rotatably supported in a bracket 18 secured tothe base plate. A pulley 19 is secured to the shaft and is driven by abelt, indicated by the dot and dash lines 20 in FIG. 2, which is drivenby a motor or other suitable drive device (not shown). A rubber sleeve21 is press fitted onto disk 16 and carries alternating long and shortfins 22 and 23.

In the bottom of the base plate is a slot 24 disposed substantiallyparallel to arm 10a. The base plate has a chamfered rim 10b surroundingthe slot. Under the base plate is mounted a pair of parallel rails 25,one on either side of the slot, which extends along the under side ofarm 10a. The rails have side notches 26 and are secured to the baseplate and the arm by screws 27 passing through the notches. The screwsmay be loosened to permit the width of the gap 28 between the rails tobe varied. The rails have recessed track portions 25a of a depth toaccommodate the heads of the eyelets or other articles to be fed andallow the heads to pass freely under the base plate.

As shown more clearly in FIGS. 5 and 6, a tongue 31 is mounted on thebase plate at the upper end of the slot and has a sloping end portion31a which extends down through the slot. The base plate has a flat landportion 10c, at the lower end of the slot, of lesser thickness than therest of the plate.

When the device is in use it is mounted on or adjacent to an eyeletsetting machine so that the outer end of arm 10a leads to the desiredstation. A batch of eyelets is dumped into the hopper. Several eyelets30 are here shown lying in random positions on the base plate. Eacheyelet has a head 30a and a stem 30b. The device is mounted so that thebase plate slopes downward in the direction of arm 10a, as illustratedin FIG. 2. The agitator disk 16 and its finned sleeve 21 arecontinuously rotated, or may be driven with an oscillatory rotarymotion. The fins 22 and 23 agitate the mass of eyelets and sweep themtoward the slot 24. Eyelets slide down the chamfered portion 10a and,when orientated properly, drop through the slot. Pins 22 sweep over theslot and tend to knock the eyelets over so that their stems drop throughthe gap 28 between the rails 25. The spacing of the tracks is set sothat the gap 28 is wide enough to allow the stems 30b of the eyelets topass freely through but is narrower than the heads 30a. When an eyelethas become aligned, with its stem between the rails and its head restingon track portions 25a, it slides under gravity toward the lower end ofarm 10a. The eyelets are thus delivered in proper position to be pickedup from the lower end of arm 10.1 by an eyelet setter or other devicefor performing any desired operation on the eyelets.

All the eyelets in a particular batch are of approximately the samesize. However, the rails 25 can be readily adjusted to feed batches ofeyelets of various stem sizes and head sizes, up to the maximum headsize which will pass through slot 24. The recessed track portions arepreferably made somewhat Wider than necessary to accommodate the headsof eyelets in the smaller size ranges, so as to leave room for the headsof larger eyelets having a larger overhang. The track portionsthemselves need not be depended on to provide sidewise alignment, as thegap 28 can be adjusted accurately to align the eyelets by their stems.

The purpose of the tongue 31, is to prevent eyelets from passing underthe base plate toward the upper end of the tracks where they might fallout, and to help prevent jamming if the slot becomes full. In FIG. aneyelet 3043 has been swept to the upper end of the slot, either bydirect contact with the fins 22 and 23 of the agitator agitation or bymotion of the mass of eyelets. The agitator is here illustrated asrevolving in such a direction that the fins move along the slot in thedirection of the arrow 32. The eyelet 30c, upon reaching the tongueportion 31a, is tilted so that its head will be caught, either by one ofthe fins, or especially in the case of small eyelets, by the mass ofeyelets being swept upward over the slot, and flicked out. In theabsence of the tongue, if the track were full, an eyelet might droppartway into the uper end of the slot in straight position and staythere. The tongue with its sloping lower portion ensured that no moreeyelets will be retained in the slot than can drop fully through ontothe tracks.

The fiat land area c tends to slow down the movement of eyelets enteringthe lower end of the slot area, and increase the probability of theiraligning themselves correctly to drop through the slot.

It is immaterial whether the rate of alignment of eyelets in the tracksis synchronized with the rate of use of eyelets by the machine to whichthey are being fed, as long as the feeding device runs fast enough tomaintain a supply of eyelets in the lower part of the track. If theeyelet setting, or other machine with which this device is used, slowsdown, or is shut down entirely, eyelets can back up only as far as theupper end of the slot. The eyelets are not positively driven toward thefeed end of the track, but merely slide down under their own weight.When the slot is full, the remaining eyelets in the hopper are sweptharmlessly over the tops of the eyelets in the slot, without strain onthe eyelets or the parts of the feeding device. The device is thushighly suitable for handling small, delicate parts.

It is understood that a variety of objects consisting of a stem portion,which may be round or square, and a head portion of larger width may befed by this device. For example, the device may be used to feed rivets,screws, bolts, tacks, nails, and similar articles. The term eyelets asused herein, is intended to include articles having the same generalconfiguration.

What is claimed is:

1. A feeding device for eyelets and the like having stern portions andhead portions of larger dimension than said stem portions, comprising ahopper having a sloping base plate provided with an elongated slotextending in the direction of slope of the base plate, said slot beingformed by side walls converging uniformly downwardly from an uppersurface of said base plate to a width, at a lower surface of said baseplate, wider than said head portions, a pair of parallel rails mountedone on either side of said slot under said base plate, said railsdefining a continuous gap therebetween of a dimension to exclude saidhead portions but admit said stern portions, singly in a row, and theupper surfaces of said rails being recessed to form track portions oneither side of said gap adapted to receive eyelets from said slot and toaccommodate head portions of eyelets whose stern portions are receivedin said gap.

2. A feeding device as described in claim 1, including an agitatingdevice mounted in said hopper.

3. A feeding device as described in claim 1, having a disk rotatablymounted in said hopper parallel with said base plate, means for drivingsaid disk and a plurality of flexible radially etxending fins mounted onsaid disk.

4. A feeding device as described in claim 1, said base plate having anarm extending sidewardly and downwardly in its plane, and said railsextending under said arm.

5. A feeding device as described in claim 1, having means for securingsaid rails at various distances apart to vary the width of said gap.

6. A feeding device as described in claim 1, said slot having an upperend, and the device having a tongue mounted on said base plate with anend portion extending obliquely downward through said upper end.

7. A feeding device as described in claim 1, said slot having a lowerend, and said base plate having a chamfered rim around said slot, and aflat, recessed land portion adjacent said lower end.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 221,844 11/1879 Messer 22l1783,414,111 12/1968 Ernest. 3,165,194 1/1965 Madden.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 221-183

